HD to HD file Transfer (Copy)

[trainmaster5]

My old 250 gig HD, a Maxtor, is getting filled up quickly so I ordered a WD 500 gig from the egg. The old drive was a PATA and the new one is SATA. Should I d/l the WD utiliies and do a copy operation, or put the old drive in an external box I have and copy my Documents and Itunes folders to the new drive? I usually do clean installs but this is Vista we're talking about. Win 3.1 up to XP were no problems but I don't think dos xcopy or whatever it's now called will work here. I'm using Ultimate here and only have a usb floppy on hand.

 

[jackschmittusa]

If you want to use the current install, then use the utility to clone the drive. Both can be installed in the machine when you do it.

If you want a clean install, then just drag and drop the files between drives after the os is on the new drive.

Remember to change the boot order.

 

[RebateMonger]

You can't use XCopy to transfer an operating system from one drive to another.

If you want a fresh install, then remove the old drive, insert the new one, and install Vista. Then, you can put the old drive in an external housing and copy your data files to the new drive. Be aware you'll likely have to "Take Ownership" of the old drive in order to read your data files.

If you want to do an upgrade from XP to Vista, then use your hard drive maker's disk cloning utility to copy your old disk to your new disk, and then upgrade the new drive to Vista.

 

[trainmaster5]

Can I leave my PATA in the rig as is, it's set to master, and add the SATA drive and clone . Or must I set the old drive to slave before or after I clone?

 

[Old Hippie]

Can I leave my PATA in the rig as is, it's set to master, and add the SATA drive and clone

That would be the way I'd do it.

Good Luck!